Leroy Lita - Relegation Beater

After a fantastic summer away with the England Under 21s, Leroy Lita was tipped for big things this season. Sadly this has not been the case.

A combination of injuries, poor form and problems off the pitch, led to the striker falling right down the pecking order at Reading and finally leading him to being shipped out on loan to London rivals Charlton.

After a fairly successful loan stint in the Championship, boss Steve Coppell has decided to give the troubled striker another chance and in my opinion, the timing couldn't be better.

With the Royals strikers firing blanks at the moment and 'star' striker Kevin Doyle without a goal in four months, Lita will give the Royals an added dimension and a bit of pace that Marek Matejovsky's intelligent passes have been crying out for.

Coppell himself has conceded that since his return Leroy has looked a different man and once again has a spring in his step.

He said, 'He's a different trainer than the one just before he went away on loan.

'Of the course of the season nobody comes in exactly the same every day, and there's a visible change in mentality since he came back. He's got the bit between his teeth.

'He will be involved this weekend, and I hope it's worked out for the best in the end.

'I'd have been equally as happy for Leroy to have stayed here and had the mentality shift, but at the time he couldn't see himself getting a game.

'We've not flogged the players in training this week, you can't at this time of year, but you can see the indications with him.'

With the fellow Royals strikers well out of form at the moment, there is no reason why Lita shouldn't start at Wigan on Saturday and with a point to prove and that added bit of hunger for goals, there is every chance Leroy Lita could be the difference maker as the Royals look for the last few points to ensure survival.

Use your social login to comment on front page articles. Login using you Facebook, Twitter, Google or LinkedIn accounts and have your say!

Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.